Too many men, too short lives: The effect of the male-biased sex ratio on mortality

Using a natural experiment in Taiwan, this paper shows that exposure to male-biased sex ratios at the marriageable ages is associated with a greater likelihood of death in later life. Half a million soldiers from Mainland China who retreated to Taiwan after a civil war in the late 1940s were subject...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Chang, Simon, Kan, Kamhon, Zhang, Xiaobo
Formato: Artículo preliminar
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Institute of Labor Economics 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/143632
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author Chang, Simon
Kan, Kamhon
Zhang, Xiaobo
author_browse Chang, Simon
Kan, Kamhon
Zhang, Xiaobo
author_facet Chang, Simon
Kan, Kamhon
Zhang, Xiaobo
author_sort Chang, Simon
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Using a natural experiment in Taiwan, this paper shows that exposure to male-biased sex ratios at the marriageable ages is associated with a greater likelihood of death in later life. Half a million soldiers from Mainland China who retreated to Taiwan after a civil war in the late 1940s were subject to a marriage ban. When the ban was lifted in 1959, the great influx of the soldiers into the marriage market suddenly tipped the balance in favor of women. We have found that men subject to this massive marriage market squeeze exhibited higher mortality rates at age 50–64. Surprisingly, the deadly effect, albeit of a much smaller magnitude, is also found among women. We show that this is likely driven by the widowhood effect—women's mortality rate increased after their husbands' deaths.
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spelling CGSpace1436322025-02-24T06:45:43Z Too many men, too short lives: The effect of the male-biased sex ratio on mortality Chang, Simon Kan, Kamhon Zhang, Xiaobo gender death marriage experimentation mortality marital status sex ratio Using a natural experiment in Taiwan, this paper shows that exposure to male-biased sex ratios at the marriageable ages is associated with a greater likelihood of death in later life. Half a million soldiers from Mainland China who retreated to Taiwan after a civil war in the late 1940s were subject to a marriage ban. When the ban was lifted in 1959, the great influx of the soldiers into the marriage market suddenly tipped the balance in favor of women. We have found that men subject to this massive marriage market squeeze exhibited higher mortality rates at age 50–64. Surprisingly, the deadly effect, albeit of a much smaller magnitude, is also found among women. We show that this is likely driven by the widowhood effect—women's mortality rate increased after their husbands' deaths. 2020-05-01 2024-05-22T12:15:40Z 2024-05-22T12:15:40Z Working Paper https://hdl.handle.net/10568/143632 en https://doi.org/10.1086/660887 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2016.12.001 Open Access Institute of Labor Economics Chang, Simon; Kan, Kamhon; and Zhang, Xiaobo. 2020. Too many men, too short lives: The effect of the male-biased sex ratio on mortality. IZA Discussion Papers No. 13162. https://www.iza.org/pub/YEJFu8xK
spellingShingle gender
death
marriage
experimentation
mortality
marital status
sex ratio
Chang, Simon
Kan, Kamhon
Zhang, Xiaobo
Too many men, too short lives: The effect of the male-biased sex ratio on mortality
title Too many men, too short lives: The effect of the male-biased sex ratio on mortality
title_full Too many men, too short lives: The effect of the male-biased sex ratio on mortality
title_fullStr Too many men, too short lives: The effect of the male-biased sex ratio on mortality
title_full_unstemmed Too many men, too short lives: The effect of the male-biased sex ratio on mortality
title_short Too many men, too short lives: The effect of the male-biased sex ratio on mortality
title_sort too many men too short lives the effect of the male biased sex ratio on mortality
topic gender
death
marriage
experimentation
mortality
marital status
sex ratio
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/143632
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